Donald Trump said he is raising tariffs on goods imported from Canada by 10% after the province of Ontario released an anti-tariff ad featuring Ronald Reagan.
The US president called the ad a “fraud” and criticized Canadian officials for not removing it ahead of baseball's World Series in a social media post on Saturday.
Ontario's premier said he would lift it to allow trade talks with the U.S. to continue after Trump leaves, but that he would still work in the U.S. over the weekend.
Canada is the only G7 country that has not reached an agreement with the United States since Trump began pushing for high tariffs on goods from major trading partners.
The US has already imposed a 35% levy on all Canadian goods, although most are exempt under the current free trade agreement. It also imposed industry levies on Canadian goods, including a 50 per cent levy on metals and a 25 per cent levy on cars.
During a trip to Asia on Saturday, Trump said he was “raising tariffs in Canada by 10% above what they're paying now.” Tariffs are paid by companies importing foreign products, not by the exporters themselves.
Three-quarters of Canada's exports are sold to the United States, and Ontario is home to much of Canada's auto manufacturing.
U.S. and Canadian Commerce Secretary Dominic LeBlanc said of the tariff increases: “We are committed to building on the progress made in constructive discussions with our American counterparts over recent weeks.
“We will remain focused on achieving results that benefit workers and families in both the United States and Canada, and that progress is best achieved through direct engagement with the U.S. administration.”
Trump's decision comes after Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday he would suspend an anti-tariff advertising campaign “to reopen trade negotiations” following discussions with Premier Mark Carney.
But he said he will still appear during World Series games, including those between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Trump responded that the ad should have been removed “IMMEDIATELY.” A Ford spokesman confirmed his statement Friday.
The ad, sponsored by the Ontario government, quotes former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, a Republican and icon of American conservatism, as saying the tariffs “hurt every American.”
The video is excerpted from a 1987 national radio address on foreign trade.
The Ronald Reagan Foundation, which is tasked with preserving the former president's legacy, previously criticized the ad for using “selective” audio and video and said it misrepresented Reagan's message. It also said the Ontario government did not seek permission to use the footage.
Although the one-minute ad only includes excerpts from the original five-minute speech, it does not change Reagan's words. However, this changes the order in which he made the comments.
Ford previously promised to place Reagan ads in every Republican-led county in the United States.
Both Trump and Carney will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia, but Trump told reporters accompanying him on Air Force One that he did not intend to meet his Canadian counterpart during the trip.
Responding to Trump's rate hike on Saturday, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said it hoped “this threat of escalation can be resolved through diplomatic channels and further negotiations.”
“Tariffs at any level remain a tax on America first, and then on the competitiveness of North America as a whole,” the organization's chief executive, Candice Lang, told the BBC.
Reagan's ad isn't the only way Ontario — home of the Toronto Blue Jays — is using the World Series as a platform to criticize Trump's tariffs.
Ford and California Gov. Gavin Newsom jokingly made a bet on which team would win the series in a social media video on Friday.
Both men joked repeatedly about tariffs in the video, with Ford promising to send Newsom a can of maple syrup if the Los Angeles Dodgers, based in Newsom's state, won.
“This tariff may cost me a few extra dollars at the border today, but it’s worth it,” he wrote.
In response, Newsom asked Ford to resume selling American-made alcohol in provincial liquor stores and promised to send him “wine worthy of a California championship” if the Blue Jays won.
Both ended the conversation with, “To a great World Series and duty-free friendship between Ontario and California.”
